At a session at the World Econoimc Forum in Davos, Stuart Russell, a leading expert on artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, made the bold prediction that AI would overtake humans within my children's lifetime.

The potential benefits are huge, since everything that civilization has to offer is a product of human intelligence; we cannot predict what we might achieve when this intelligence is magnified by the tools AI may provide, but the eradication of disease and poverty are not unfathomable. Because of the great potential of AI, it is important to research how to reap its benefits while avoiding potential pitfalls, the letter said.

However others on the panel were were more sanguine.

Alison Gopnik, professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, who was also on the panel, said afterwards that robots could not even mimic two-year-olds yet, let alone cause damage.

Her Berkeley colleague, Ken Goldberg, predicted that a robot would not be able to tell a joke in his lifetime.

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Davos 2015: Robots less dangerous than stupid people